Sorry About Your Buckets

I’m sorry about your buckets, you had it pretty rough Cutting out the bottoms, never deep enough

I’m slowly losing any sense of decorum, we’re now at the parody lyrics stage. I’m afraid it’s fatal, soon enough all posts will just be puns. I’ve been taking advantage of the pleasant weather, well, the snatches of pleasant weather. Which are perpetually giving way to really cold weather, made all the more unpleasant by the heat preceding it. Sweating one minute and freezing the next does not a happy Jack make. So, I came here in the guise of Jack, I’m wearing a novelty moustache, no, not really. To tell you that the tame garden is done, but, er, it’s not. Maybe I should start at the beginning. When I started the idea was to just dig it out and perhaps move some of the plants. Really basic. A clean and weed, but the weeds were really adamant that their tenancy shouldn’t be terminated so easily. So we moved to matting. Which then gave me the idea of sunken planters, bottomless of course, at the inner edges, which gave rise to an idea of a path made with planks. Happy was the Jack who stopped there, dearest reader. Then the idea of sunken buckets for the out section appeared. So I went to work on that. Filled them around with bark and then realised I want to line the path with pebbles. That should then end it…no, wait, I need to hang some more baskets. Someday I’ll be done. Until then let’s see how it progresses. Oh, the lid on the barrel is to stop birds drowning. I had to cut it by hand, hence the jagged edges.

The buckets are empty for now. It’s either roses or lilies.

It’s very dead for now. Next year, well, hopefully less so.

I’m becoming an expert on bottomless buckets. I’m learning as I go and with each repetition it gets easier. I’m happy with how it’s turning out so far. It’s a slow progress, but after this year I know what’s needed where and what works best where. I’ve never done anything like this so I just think, think and think before I act. In my head it’s never far flung castles in the sky plans. Just a real idea of what it’ll look like, flaws and all. So far it’s pretty much what I expected. It’ll mean a low maintenance, high flower garden. I tell you my poor knees will need some maintenance, I’m too tall to bend over so I have to squat down, a lot. I feel like a delinquent in a manga. This side of the garden is almost finished. A lot more bulbs to plant and seeds to start, but that’s a fun thing. The tinkering and planning should be winding down.

Welcome to squash boulevard!

Squash Pots pending.

House and dog not representative of scale.

You might be able to spot where I removed the plastic. I bought matting as it’s a better fit. The matting will line the planters for strawberries. You can see the component parts in the last photo. You might have seen where the squashes were this year, that’ll be their position from here on out. Now they’ll be lined ten in a row and with a path either side to monitor and feed them.No fences needed this year so I can plan with a bit more permanence. I took a long roll of the matting and slowly cut, bent and hammered the pins in place. Twice. Then I went back, cut around the planters, keeping the scraps of course, and tucked and nailed it in place. I may have to put bark down to protect it from the sun. It’ll be worth the expense. I’ll be able to put planters in any gaps and crevasses. I probably won’t sink any as the weeds here are terrible and the rocks are far too plentiful. I’m not losing any space as it wasn’t usable at all. Now with the planters in place I have a lot of soil to play with. Almost all of it from the squash pots. I put all the top soil and weeds I dug up, yup, the whole area there was dug out, in the compost. No waste where I can help it.

Welcome to, no, wait, no name. Er, Not as Crappy Corner!

I can’t figure what angle I took this from. I think this is up.

I need to cut and nails these boards in time.

Shhhhhh. The soil is resting for the Winter.

See! The vegetable side hasn’t been neglected either. I had to sort out the weed ridden wall section. It’s been matted and will be bordered with planks. I may sink pots or just place them over. The section under cover is where the ridges will go and so much will grow, with luck, the gardener’s constant companion, ever fickle. The largest planter is placed where a huge ivy bush was and a lot of invasive weeds have taken root. So under there is useless for growing. I’ll bark that and might put pots around. I’ll try carrot in the planter next year. It’s just me doing all this so I want enough to grow in, but not so much that it’ll go wild before I can manage to tame it. I grew a lot in just two thirds of that section this year so next should be even better. This probably has been a bit dull. It’ll be more exciting when I start next year, but it’s a bit fun to look at the way it’s all changing, isn’t it, dear reader? Let’s say so. It’ll make all this work more worthwhile. I can see all that could be, I just have to have patience and wait. I don’t know what I’ll do when this stage of the work is finished. Until we meet again.

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